Golf swing grooving device

ABSTRACT

A flat, elongated strip of belting material reinforced by a metal backing is adapted to be anchored to the ground by downwardly-projecting prongs. Two flexible uprights, in the form of integral loops of the belting material, extend upwardly from the strip at longitudinally-spaced locations. A target mark which may be shaped and colored to simulate a golf ball is borne by one of the uprights. The other upright is dimensioned and positioned so that a properly swung golf club which strikes the simultated golf ball will also strike the other upright, thereby making two slapping sounds, while an improperly swung golf club which strikes the simulated golf ball will miss the other upright, thereby making only one slapping sound, thus audibly indicating the difference between a properly swung golf club and an improperly swung golf club. The elongated strip is dimensioned to comfortably fit within a golf bag containing golf clubs. The prongs on the elongated strip are inclined at an angle toward the direction of club head travel.

United States Patent [191 Rietz [451 Feb. 5, 1974 GOLF SWING GROOVING DEVICE Adelbert E. Rietz, 1306 N. 63rd Ct., Milwaukee, Wis. 53213 [22] Filed: Apr. 9, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 350,217

[76] Inventor:

Primary Examiner-George .l. Marlo Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Arthur L. Morsell, Jr.

57 ABSTRACT A flat, elongated strip of belting; material reinforced by a metal backing is adapted to be anchored to the ground by downwardly-projecting prongs. Two flexible uprights, in the form of integral loops of the belting material, extend upwardly from the strip at longitudinally-spaced locations. A target mark which may be shaped and colored to simulate a golf ball is borne by one of the uprights. The other upright is dimensioned and positioned so that a properly swung golf club which strikes the simultated golf ball will also strike the other upright, thereby making two slapping sounds, while an improperly swung golf club which strikes the simulated golf ball will miss the other upright, thereby making only one slapping sound, thus audibly indicating the difference between a properly swung golf club and an improperly swung golf club. The elongated strip is dimensioned to comfortably fit within a golf bag containing golf clubs. The prongs on the elongated strip are inclined at an angle toward the direction of club head travel.

5 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures GOLF SWING GROOVING DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is a common failing among golfers to swing a golf club in such a way that the club face moves transversely across the ball and imparts a spin to the ball which makes it hook or slice instead of flying straight in the intended direction. The errors of stance, grip, and swing which produce the hook or slice are well known to those skilled in the art, but lengthy practice is necessary to overcome a hooking or slicing tendency, and proper practice is hard to obtain during a golf game since so much time elapses between successive shots. Practice at a golf driving range overcomes the time ohjection, but this is relatively expensive and involves a special trip to the driving range for a practice session. Accordingly, there is a need for a golf swing practice device which golfers can use at home or at a golf course to practice their swing and to overcome the tendency to hook or to slice.

The prior art golf swing practice devices are relatively large and cumbersome and cannot be conveniently carried along with a set of golf clubs. Moreover, they are relatively expensive to manufacture and are not well enough anchored to the ground to be stable for a full practice session but rather tend to become moved during practice swings. Accordingly, the principal object of this invention is to provide an improved golf swing practice device which avoids these shortcomings.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved golf swing practice device which is inexpensive tomanufacture, simple and sturdy in structure, and reliable in use.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilledin the art from the following description of one illustrative embodiment thereof.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Two spaced flexible uprights project upwardly from an elongated strip which is anchored to the ground by means including downwardly-projecting prongs. One upright is approximately as high as a teed-up golf ball and preferably has a target mark thereon which is shaped and colored to simulate a golf ball. The other upright is dimensioned and positioned so that a properly swung golf club which strikes the simulated golf ball will also strike the other upright, thereby making.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a side view of one illustrative embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 showing the path followed by properly swung and improperly swung golf clubs;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2; FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on the line 5 --5 of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1, one illustrative embodiment of the invention comprises a flat, narrow elongated strip 20 which is anchored to the ground by means including two downwardly-projecting prongs 12, there being two longitudinally-spaced, flexible uprights l4 and 16 projecting upwardly therefrom. Elongated strip 20 is reinforced by a rigid metallic strip 181 which is covered on its upper surface by the elongated strip 20, the latter being fabric belting material such as cotton fiber marine strapping. The flexible uprights l4 and 16 are formed by loops in the fabric belting material 20, and may be reinforced by leather loops 22 and 24 to provide additional stiffness. The fabric belting material 20 is secured around the ends of metal strip 18 by sewn pockets 26 (see FIG. 3), and transverse retaining strips of fabric belting material 28 and 30 may be sewn at their ends to fabric belting 20 below the metal strip 18 and under loops 14 and 16 to further secure the belting material to the metal strip 18.

The prongs 12 are welded to the underside of the metal strip 18 and are preferably angled as will be described hereinafter to keep the device anchored in the ground when it is being used. A leather loop 32 is sewn near one upper end of the fabric belting material 20 for use in pulling the prongs 12 out of the ground when the practice session is over.

As best shown in FIG. 5, a round, white target mark or patch 34, which may be made of leather, and which has the same diameter as a golf ball, is affixed to loop 14 at a height equal to the height of a teed golf ball. The purpose of target patch 34 is to simulate a teed golf ball and thus give the user of the device a target. A smaller white dot or a cross could be used as a target if desired, but the simulated golf ball is preferable because it provides a more realistic target.

. In use, the device, which is designated generally by the numeral 10, is laid on the ground in line with an imaginary line of flight, and the prongs 12 are forced into the ground to anchor the strip 10 in place. A golf club is then swung at the target patch 34 as if the simulated golf ball were to be driven along a line of flight forming a continuation of the longitudinal center line of the elongated strip 10. If the golf club is properly swung, it will follow the path indicated by numeral 36 in FIG. 2 and will strike the loop 16 after it strikes the target patch 34, thereby producing two audible slapping sounds in quick succession, which indicates a proper swing. If the club head approaches the target patch 34 from the inside out far enough to produce a hook, it will miss the loop 16, as indicated by the path 38, and will, therefore, make only a single slapping sound when the target patch 34 is struck. If the club head approaches the target patch 34 from the outside in far enough to produce a slice, it will also miss the loop 16, as indicated by the path 40, and will also make only a single slapping sound when the target patch 34 is struck. Thus a single slapping sound indicates an improperly swung club while two slapping sounds indicate a properly swung club. Whether an improperly swung club would produce a hook or a slice is determined visually by noting which side of the loop 16 the club head travels past when it misses the loop. If the club head passes inside of loop 16, the improper swing would have produced a slice. If the club head passes outside of the loop 16, the improper swing would have produced a hook.

The dimensions of the two loops and the spacing between them are chosen to produce the above-noted audible signals indicating properly and improperly swung golf clubs. The loop 14 should be approximately as high as the teed-up ball which is simulated, or it may be lower if it is simulating a ball lying on the fairway. To simulate a teed ball, the height A of loop 14 should be approximately 2% inches. The target patch 34 is placed with its center approximately 1% inches above the bottom of the loop 14. The loop 16 is dimensioned andpositioned to intersect the club head when it is properly swung but not when it is improperly swung. There are a range of different positions that will meet this require ment, but it has been determined that one set of workable dimensions for loop 16 are as follows: a width B of approximately 1% inches, a height C of approximately 4% inches, and a distance D from loop 14 of approximately ll% inches. The invention is not limited to these dimensions, however, since the same effect can be obtained with different dimensions. For example, if the loop 16 is narrower than 1% inches, it will have to be placed somewhat closer to the loop 14 to achieve the same effect in terms of the amount of hooking or slicing tendency which will cause the club head to miss the loop 16. If the loop 16 is wider than 1% inches, it will have to be placed somewhat further away from the loop 14 to achieve the same effect. If the loop 16 is placed further away from the loop 14, it will have to be made somewhat higher in order to still intersect the club head when the club is swung properly. Such variation of the dimensions will, however, be apparent to those skilled in the art from a consideration of the path of the club head and the desired effect, and it should be understood that this invention includes any dimensions and positions which produce the desired effect.

In this embodiment of the invention, the dimension E in P16. 1 is approximately 19 inches and the dimension F is approximately 6 inches, which gives an over all length of approximately 36 inches for the device as a whole. This length is quite convenient for carrying in a golf bag. The prongs 12 are approximately 2 inches long and are angled at from 10 to toward the direction of club head travel so that they will tend to bite into the ground when the target patch 34 is struck. This is an important feature of the invention because vertical prongs tend to loosen after a few swings of the golf club, while the angled prongs tend to dig in deeper and provide a better anchor for the device. When the practice session is over, the prongs 12 can be easily withdrawn from the ground by a tug on loop 32. Although the flexible uprights 14 and 16 could be made of any suitable flexible material, the loops of fabric belting material are preferable because they are easy to loop up from the belting 20 during manufacture, will not be injured by being carried in a golf bag, and are long-wearing in use. The two loops 14 and 16 are integral parts of a continuous length of fabric belting material 20 which extends from one end pocket 26 to the other end pocket 26. The pockets 26 are stitched-inplace, integral parts of the fabric belting material 20 and so are the loops l4 and 16. The leather reinforcing loops 22 and 24 are placed within the loops l4 and 16 before they are sewn together at their base, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, and the stitching also serves to hold the leather loops 22 and 24 in place. Short strips of fabric belting material 28 and 30 are stitched to the bottom of fabric belting material 20 under loops l4 and 16 to hold the loops 14 and 16 against the metal strip 18.

Although one specific embodiment of the invention has been disclosed herein by way of example, it should be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiment since modifications can be made in the disclosed structure without departing from the basic principles of this invention. For example, although the flexible uprights are shown as being made of fabric belting material, other suitable flexible or resilient materials could be employed if desired. The over all length and width of the device may be varied within reasonable limits without affecting its performance. These and other modifications of the disclosed structure will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and this invention includes all such modifications that fall within the scope of the following claims.

What I claim is:

l. A golf swing grooving device comprising an elongated strip, means including prongs extending downwardly from said strip for anchoring the strip to the ground, first and second flexible uprights projecting upwardly from said strip at longitudinally-spaced locations, said first upright being of a height corresponding approximately to the height of a golf ball which is to be struck, said second upright being dimensioned and positioned to intersect the head of a golf club which has previously struck said first upright if said golf club has been properly swung, said elongated strip comprises a length of belting material, and said spaced flexible uprights comprise integral looped portions of said belting material.

2. The combination defined in claim 1 and further comprising leather reinforcing loops within said looped portions of fabric belting material.

3. The combination as claimed in claim 1 in which the belting material is reinforced by a metal strip.

4. The combination defined in claim 3 and further comprising pockets in the ends of said length of belting material, said pockets being positioned to receive the ends of said metal strip.

5. The combination defined in claim 3 in which the prongs project from said metal strip. 

1. A golf swing grooving device comprising an elongated strip, means including prongs extending downwardly from said strip for anchoring the strip to the ground, first and second flexible uprights projecting upwardly from said strip at longitudinallyspaced locations, said first upright being of a height corresponding approximately to the height of a golf ball which is to be struck, said second upright being dimensioned and positioned to intersect the head of a golf club which has previously struck said first upright if said golf club has been properly swung, said elongated strip comprises a length of belting material, and said spaced flexible uprights comprise integral looped portions of said belting material.
 2. The combination defined in claim 1 and further comprising leather reinforcing loops within said looped portions of fabric belting material.
 3. The combination as claimed in claim 1 in which the belting material is reinforced by a metal strip.
 4. The combination defined in claim 3 and further comprising pockets in the ends of said length of belting material, said pockets being positioned to receive the ends of said metal strip.
 5. The combination defined in claim 3 in which the prongs project from said metal strip. 